“Fool,” hissed Tana. “Goblin tribes never mix with different tribes. There’s a reason for the saying, ‘like goblins meeting goblins.'”

Harry propped his spear on his shoulder so he could hold up his hands innocently. “I’m sorry,” he said, not sorry at all.

“Let’s keep moving,” said Brimmel. Harry noted how he wiped his sword on a dead goblin. The blood smeared instead of wiping clean, and Harry shook his head but held his tongue. He needed these three for now, but if Brimmel got himself killed without Harry’s help, all the better.

Harry squinted into the darkness ahead. These three adventurers were possibly fine people, but he had no intention of finding that out. He had debts to pay, and he’d pay them from this old dungeon’s plunder. His three companions would meet their fates in the darkness. In a way, so would he.

“Yeah, let’s go,” he agreed. “It’s only going to get worse before it gets better.”

With Stin riled up, he’d take brasher risks. Harry had worked with enough goblins to know how they reacted. He only hoped that Stin would take several monsters with him when he plunged into the deep.

Tana, on the other hand, would go down much harder. There just weren’t that many things that could take on a fully-grown vampire. But if there were, this was the place he’d find them. Harry just had to make sure that Tana killed the monsters off before she died, or he wouldn’t be much longer for this world. Such was his desperate state that he’d even considered this job in the first place.

Unless Brimmel had some hidden talent besides leadership, Harry wasn’t concerned with him in the slightest. How the other two put up with him, Harry couldn’t guess. Oh well. Just makes it that much easier.

Holding his spear ahead of him, Harry plunged into the darkness. Time to see if it comes together.